Adjacent Words

Descant definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DESCANT, n.
1. A song or tune composed in parts.
2. A song or tune with various modulations.
The wakeful nightingale
All night long her amourous descant sung.
3. A discourse; discussion; disputation; animadversion, comment, or a series of comments.
4. The art of composing music in several parts. Descant is plain, figurative and double.
Plain descant is the ground-work of musical compositions, consisting in the orderly disposition of concords, answering to simple counterpoint.
Figurative or florid descant, is that part of an air in which some discords are concerned.
Double descant, is when the parts are so contrived, that the treble may be made the base, and the base the treble.
DESCANT, v.i.
1. To run a division or variety with the voice, on a musical ground in true measure; to sing.
2. To discourse; to comment; to make a variety of remarks; to animadvert freely.
A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a decorative musical accompaniment (often improvised) added above a basic melody [syn: descant, discant] v
1: sing in descant
2: sing by changing register; sing by yodeling; "The Austrians were yodeling in the mountains" [syn: yodel, warble, descant]
3: talk at great length about something of one's interest

Merriam Webster's

I. noun also discant Etymology: Middle English dyscant, from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French descaunt, from Medieval Latin discantus, from Latin dis- + cantus song — more at chant Date: 14th century 1. a. a melody or counterpoint sung above the plainsong of the tenor b. the art of composing or improvising contrapuntal part music; also the music so composed or improvised c. soprano, treble d. a superimposed counterpoint to a simple melody sung typically by some or all of the sopranos 2. discourse or comment on a theme II. intransitive verb Date: 15th century 1. to sing or play a descant; broadly sing 2. comment, discourse

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 Mus. an independent treble melody usu. sung or played above a basic melody, esp. of a hymn tune. 2 poet. a melody; a song. --v.intr. 1 (foll. by on, upon) talk lengthily and prosily, esp. in praise of. 2 Mus. sing or play a descant. Phrases and idioms: descant recorder the most common size of recorder, with a range of two octaves. Etymology: ME f. OF deschant f. med.L discantus (as DIS-, cantus song, CHANT)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Descant Des*cant" (d[e^]s*k[a^]nt"), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descanted; p. pr. & vb. n. Descanting.] [From descant; n.; or directly fr. OF. descanter, deschanter; L. dis- + cantare to sing.] 1. To sing a variation or accomplishment. 2. To comment freely; to discourse with fullness and particularity; to discourse at large. A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions. --Addison.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Descant Des"cant (d[e^]s"k[a^]nt), n. [OF. descant, deschant, F. d['e]chant, discant, LL. discantus, fr. L. dis + cantus singing, melody, fr. canere to sing. See Chant, and cf. Descant, v. i., Discant.] 1. (Mus.) (a) Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament of the main subject or plain song. (b) The upper voice in part music. (c) The canto, cantus, or soprano voice; the treble. --Grove. Twenty doctors expound one text twenty ways, as children make descant upon plain song. --Tyndale. She [the nightingale] all night long her amorous descant sung. --Milton. Note: The term has also been used synonymously with counterpoint, or polyphony, which developed out of the French d['e]chant, of the 12th century. 2. A discourse formed on its theme, like variations on a musical air; a comment or comments. Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant! --De Quincey.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Figurate Fig"ur*ate, a. [L. figuratus, p. p. of figurare. See Figure.] 1. Of a definite form or figure. Plants are all figurate and determinate, which inanimate bodies are not. --Bacon. 2. Figurative; metaphorical. [Obs.] --Bale. 3. (Mus.) Florid; figurative; involving passing discords by the freer melodic movement of one or more parts or voices in the harmony; as, figurate counterpoint or descant. Figurate counterpoint or descant (Mus.), that which is not simple, or in which the parts do not move together tone for tone, but in which freer movement of one or more parts mingles passing discords with the harmony; -- called also figural, figurative, and figured counterpoint or descant (although the term figured is more commonly applied to a bass with numerals written above or below to indicate the other notes of the harmony). Figurate numbers (Math.), numbers, or series of numbers, formed from any arithmetical progression in which the first term is a unit, and the difference a whole number, by taking the first term, and the sums of the first two, first three, first four, etc., as the successive terms of a new series, from which another may be formed in the same manner, and so on, the numbers in the resulting series being such that points representing them are capable of symmetrical arrangement in different geometrical figures, as triangles, squares, pentagons, etc. Note: In the following example, the two lower lines are composed of figurate numbers, those in the second line being triangular, and represented thus: -- . 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. . . . 1, 3, 6, 10, etc. . . . . . . . etc. 1, 4, 10, 20, etc . . . . . . . . . . . .

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Figurate Fig"ur*ate, a. [L. figuratus, p. p. of figurare. See Figure.] 1. Of a definite form or figure. Plants are all figurate and determinate, which inanimate bodies are not. --Bacon. 2. Figurative; metaphorical. [Obs.] --Bale. 3. (Mus.) Florid; figurative; involving passing discords by the freer melodic movement of one or more parts or voices in the harmony; as, figurate counterpoint or descant. Figurate counterpoint or descant (Mus.), that which is not simple, or in which the parts do not move together tone for tone, but in which freer movement of one or more parts mingles passing discords with the harmony; -- called also figural, figurative, and figured counterpoint or descant (although the term figured is more commonly applied to a bass with numerals written above or below to indicate the other notes of the harmony). Figurate numbers (Math.), numbers, or series of numbers, formed from any arithmetical progression in which the first term is a unit, and the difference a whole number, by taking the first term, and the sums of the first two, first three, first four, etc., as the successive terms of a new series, from which another may be formed in the same manner, and so on, the numbers in the resulting series being such that points representing them are capable of symmetrical arrangement in different geometrical figures, as triangles, squares, pentagons, etc. Note: In the following example, the two lower lines are composed of figurate numbers, those in the second line being triangular, and represented thus: -- . 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. . . . 1, 3, 6, 10, etc. . . . . . . . etc. 1, 4, 10, 20, etc . . . . . . . . . . . .

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(descants) A descant is a tune which is played or sung above the main tune in a piece of music. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Melody (with variations), song, tune. 2. Commentary, animadversion, remarks, series of comments. 3. Discourse, discussion, disputation. 4. (Mus.) Soprano, treble, highest part in a score. II. v. n. Expatiate, enlarge, dilate, discourse, make remarks, treat copiously, animadvert freely.

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